Of the members of your Sub-committee about _four-fifths_ entered upon the investigation wholly sceptical as to the reality of the alleged phenomena, firmly believing them to be the result either of _imposture_ or of _delusion_, or of _involuntary muscular action_. It was only by irresistible evidence, under conditions that precluded the possibility of either of these solutions, and after trial and test many times repeated, that the most sceptical of your Sub-committee were slowly and reluctantly convinced that the phenomena exhibited in the course of their protracted inquiry were veritable facts. A description of one experiment, and the manner of conducting it, will best show the care and caution with which your Committee have pursued their investigations. So long as there was contact, or even the possibility of contact, by the hands or feet, or even by the clothes of any person in the room, with the substance moved or sounded, there could be no perfect assurance that the motions and sounds were not produced by the person so in contact. The following experiment was therefore tried: On an occasion when eleven members of your Sub-committee had been sitting round one of the dining-tables above described for forty minutes, and various motions and sounds had occurred, they, by way of test, turned the backs of their chairs to the table, at about nine inches from it. They all then knelt upon their chairs, placing their arms upon the backs thereof. In this position, their feet were of course turned away from the table, and by no possibility could be placed under it or touch the floor. The hands of each person were extended over the table at about four inches from the surface. Contact, therefore, with any part of the table could not take place without detection. In less than a minute the table, untouched, moved _four_ times; at first about _five_ inches to one side, then about _twelve_ inches to the opposite side, and then, in like manner, four inches and six inches respectively.